


See the New World

by Interstella



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: End Game Spoilers, Sad, bitter sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 20:31:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19303291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Interstella/pseuds/Interstella
Summary: The first thing to be built was a statue of the King of Light. It stood in front of the Citadel, where they had fought a deity on that, the last night of all nights.Prompto found himself standing in front of it, staring up at it every morning as the sun rose and casting the marble in a golden glow.“You did it, buddy…” He whispered, reaching out. His fingers never touched the stone - a part of him afraid that doing so would make this more real.





	See the New World

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRixaDv0wKg&list=PLBuYOdBLEH7XhPGRSuHFInfetglmILgPn&index=1

For the first week, it didn’t seem real. After ten years of darkness, the sun was finally shining. People were stepping out onto the streets, eyes gazing at the sky with barely contained hope, most afraid that it was just a dream. Ruins littered the landscape, and over time the barricades came down, the buildings were rebuilt. People were banding together to start the new era together.    
  
Insomnia was bustling with people, alive with the sound of construction and the voices of the hopeful populace as they worked. The first thing to be built was a statue of the King of Light. It stood in front of the Citadel, where they had fought a deity on that, the last night of all nights.    
  
Prompto found himself standing in front of it, staring up at it every morning as the sun rose and casting the marble in a golden glow.    
  
“You did it, buddy…” He whispered, reaching out. His fingers never touched the stone - a part of him afraid that doing so would make this more real. Would dash the hope that he held in his heart that this was just one more of the many dreams he’d had over the last decade.    
  
It still didn’t feel real. Over the last decade, he’d held onto the knowledge that Noct was going to come back, that he would return. And now, even a week after he had done so, Prompto couldn’t shake that feeling.    
  
He knew that Noct was never going to come back. The King had given his life to bring forth this new world. He had given his future, his life, even his body to the Crystal and the gods to banish the darkness and evil from the world.    
  
But still, Prompto somehow held the hope of another return.    
  
“You sure about this?” Gladio stepped beside Prompto, admiring the stone sculpture in front of them.    
  
Prompto nodded, eyes never leaving the marble face of the man he’d known so well. “Yeah.” He adjusted the bag on his back and checked his camera was still around his neck. “It’s something that… I need to do.”    
  
A warm hand gently squeezed his shoulder, a silent agreement from the Final King’s Shield. They didn’t say anything else, not even when Prompto turned and walked away. He didn’t look back. There was something he needed to do.   
  
\-- -- -- -- --     
  
His first stop was Hammerhead. Cindy was more busy than he’d seen her, servicing cars, directing people to Insomnia. Since the sun rose, her job had gone from holding things together, to rebuilding. Known as the world’s best mechanic, people were flocking to her from all over Eos.    
  
She didn’t have much time for him, but she had enough. He spent the morning with her, a late breakfast at the newly reopened Takka’s Diner before spending one final night in the room that had been his for so long.    
  
When the sun rose, so did he. And then he was on his way again.   
  
It took him almost a year to visit all the places they had been to on their ill fated road trip. Each and every place documented, his camera full of shots from all over Lucis. His final stop had been Caem, the boarding house still somehow still standing.    
  
Eventually, he found his way back to Insomnia. The reconstruction had come along way in just one year, and the signs of destruction were few and far between. Somehow, they’d managed to keep the original architecture. It was almost as if they had never left at all. Only a few things were radically different - everything else faded into the background, leaving the Crown City to look all but untouched by the apocalypse. Except for one thing.   
  
The statue in the Citadel’s courtyard stood tall and proud, watching over the city with kind eyes that never closed. Prompto stood before it, the sun setting beyond the haze of the city.   
  
“Every day, it gets more real.” He whispered to that statue. “Every sunrise I watch without you… it reminds me that you’re not coming home this time.” He looked down at his camera, flicking through the pictures. “It took me a long time but… But I think I’m going to be okay now.   
  
“I’ve been travelling. I’ve been everywhere we went together, seen the new world with my own eyes. People are thriving, rebuilding. The world is moving on… you saved it. You saved them all.” Tears were gathering in his eyes, but he kept going, eyes still watching the flickering images on his camera.    
  
Each and every photograph was that of a sunrise. Hammerhead, Galdin Quay, the Chocobo Post - everywhere he went, he took a photograph of the sun rising, bathing the world in orange and pink. New mornings in a new world.   
  
“It was hard, at first. I kept thinking that you’d just show up. That I’d get another call telling me that you’re on your way. I kept thinking that you’d come home, and you’d see the world with me. I knew you wouldn’t. You told us what had to happen, but…” He shook his head, letting the tears fall. “I had a choice. I could give in, let myself crumple and fall or… or I could walk tall. So I walked tall. I know that that’s what you would want for me. So even though you couldn’t come with me, I saw the new world. Sometimes it felt like you were there too… With me.” His hand had found its way to his chest, to gently touch his fingertips to his heart. “And that gave me the strength to keep going.   
  
“I took a lot of pictures.” He spoke again, lifting his head to look at the statue.    
  
With no body, Noct had no grave. This was the closest thing they had, and it brought comfort to Prompto to still have a way to talk to his lost friend.    
  
“I’ll show them to you.” He promised, “When my time comes, and I see you again… I’ll show you the new world. Your world. And until then… I’ll look after it. I’ll take care of this new world for you.” The tears were falling fully now, but unlike the first ones after the Dawn, these tears didn’t crush him under their weight. He didn’t feel like he was drowning with no hope of rescue.    
  
It would never stop hurting, he knew that. But slowly, acceptance had set in and breathing was easier. He’d stopped simply existing, and was now starting to live again. He knew that Noct would never forgive him for giving up now - not after what he’d done for them all. So he didn’t. He kept going, lived his life. A life without Noct.    
  
A life  _ for _ Noct.


End file.
